Tel Aviv University team uses ‘microscopic scissors’ to pinpoint and eliminate cancerous cells; results of animal tests just published, trial in humans expected within 2 years
Israeli scientists say they have destroyed cancerous cells in mice with a method so pinpointed it’s as if “tiny scissors” were being used to target only affected cells, while leaving everything around them intact.
“This is the first study in the world to prove that the CRISPR genome editing system, which works by cutting DNA, can effectively be used to treat cancer in an animal,” said Prof. Dan Peer, a cancer expert from Tel Aviv University, after his peer-reviewed research was published in the Science Advances journal.
“There are no side effects, and we believe that a cancer cell treated in this way will never become active again.” He added: “This technology can extend the life expectancy of cancer patients and we hope, one day, cure the disease.”
www.timesofisrael.com/with-new-elegant-chemo-israeli-scientists-edit-genome-to-destroy-cancer-dna/